


Sam's Visit

by konataizumi333



Series: The Adventures of Ghost!Dean and CatLover!Cas [3]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Castiel has a lot of cats, Dean loves his brother, Gen, Ghost!Dean - Freeform, I don't know how to tag this, M/M, Pre-Slash, Sam loves his brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-27
Updated: 2017-11-27
Packaged: 2019-02-07 15:55:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,707
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12844515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/konataizumi333/pseuds/konataizumi333
Summary: Dean is very excited because his brother is coming to visit the apartment like he does every year.





	Sam's Visit

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry this update took so long. I wish I had a good excuse, bit it's been mostly a lack of motivation. I will try to get the next part of the story written faster.

Castiel looked around at his apartment, mind still groggy with sleep. "Dean, did you...clean the apartment?"

Not that the apartment was usually messy, but now it was spotless. Not a thing was out of place and not a speck of dust could be seen.

Dean looked up sheepishly from where he was doing a puzzle on the couch. "Maybe?"

"It's...nice," Castiel said, still rubbing sleep from his eyes. He walked to the kitchen to fix some breakfast.

"Yeah, well, you know, I just wanted it to look nice and clean and stuff for Sam," he said, embarrassed.

Castiel smiled. "You should clean more often when you get bored," he joked and Dean relaxed. "Any idea what time he's coming?"

"Not really, but probably not 'till the afternoon."

Castiel watched Dean while fixing a bowl of cereal. He was tapping his foot and squirming impatiently. Castiel went to sit next to him and tried to carefully broach the topic that Dean had been so dismissive of the past few days.

"You know, you could always-"

" _Don't_ ," Dean stopped him. "Just don't say it," he said shortly, feet no longer bouncing in anticipation.

Castiel sighed. According to Dean, Sam came to the apartment every year on the day of Dean's death and asked the tenant if he could come in and pay respects. Most people, under the spell of his supposed "puppy dog eyes," let him in. Only one year was he turned away and one year the apartment was vacant.

But this year was different because this year Castiel could see Dean. More importantly, he could tell Sam that Dean was still around. But Dean had flat out refused the first time Castiel brought it up and quickly changed the topic every other time it was brought up.

"Dean, I just don't understand why you don't want to talk with Sam. If it's just a matter of privacy, I don't even have to be there, we can get you paper and a pencil and you and Sam can reunite. I know how much he means to you, so why?" Castiel asked cautiously.

"Because!" Dean shouted, turning on him. "Because...because Sam doesn't need that," he continued in a quieter and resigned voice. "I died nine years ago. Sam has been living without me in his life for _nine_ _years_ , he's moved on, he's better now. If I come back it's gonna bring back all the painful memories and he'll be stuck with the guilt that I'm stuck here and he can't see me and there's nothing he can do about it."

Castiel was silent for moment. "I understand where you're coming from, but he comes to this apartment every year, where he may or may not be let in, to spend some time with absolute strangers, just to be in the place where you died, rather than visiting your grave like a normal person. That doesn't sound like he's moved on to me. And I think anybody that loves you that much would be better off knowing you're here and being able to talk to you."

Dean let out a huff. He didn't say anything, just sulked quietly for a few minutes before standing and walking away through the wall. Castiel rolled his eyes at Dean's antics but didn't push the topic because he knew how emotional it was for Dean.

Dean would probably be sulking in the extra room, which he had claimed for himself whenever he wanted some alone time, for the rest of the day. He grabbed his laptop from his room and settled back on the couch to start working. Being an editor at a small publishing firm meant he could do most of his work from home. Before, he almost never took advantage of this, preferring the quiet of his small office, but ever since Dean came along he found himself at home much more often.

But today he almost wished for the peace his office would bring because he was feeling very stressed. He was basically waiting for Sam to show up, which could be at any time. Then he was gonna have to entertain Sam-not that he thought he would dislike Sam, he just wasn't good at socializing with new people, especially without a buffer.

However, he was also excited to meet Sam. He didn't know much about him, only what Dean had told him, which wasn't much. He knew Sam was a lawyer, he was really smart, really tall, and he was pretty friendly and easygoing. He sounded like an alright guy and Dean obviously loved him a lot, so Castiel was pretty sure it would be okay.

But this was also a chance to get a glimpse into Dean's life. After all, Sam would probably like to talk about him to someone, and Castiel hoped he would talk to him.

Dean was still new, despite living together for more than two months at this point. He knew the basics of Dean's life-he was a mechanic, single, close with his parents and Sam, had a few close friends-but beyond that he mostly only knew about Dean's life as a ghost. Which made sense, of course, as it had taken up the last nine years of his life, but still. Castiel was pretty sure Dean avoided talking about his life because it made him sad, so he respected that, but this was his chance to learn about Dean from Sam's point of view.

Mabel hopped up on the couch next to him and curled up. Castiel ran a hand over her hair, scratching under her chin. He sighed. "I hope this goes well," he murmured, trying to focus back on his work.

 

* * *

 

 

He ended up waiting a while. It was past three when a knock finally sounded at the door. He hadn't been able to focus on work and had only done a fraction of what he normally would've. Dean had stayed in the spare room all day and Castiel hadn't bothered him, he would know when Sam got here.

Castiel stood up and stretched as Dean came flying through the wall, startling Castiel so badly he almost tripped over Maggie who had also been startled by Dean's sudden appearance.

Dean at least had the decency to look a bit sheepish, but he was too excited for it to last more than a few seconds.

Castiel just smiled, Dean looked like child on Christmas morning.

He walked over and opened the door, and there was man standing there with longish brown hair and a hopeful smile on his face. He was also, as Dean had said, very tall.

Castiel adopted an expression of polite confusion as Sam gave his introduction, remembering that he's not supposed to know who Sam is or why he's here.

"Hi, my name is Sam Winchester, and this is gonna sound kinda weird, but my brother used to live here, and well, he kinda died here too," he said with a nervous chuckle, "And well, I come here every year to, uh, pay my respects and all that, and I was wondering if I could come in for a little while to, well, pay my respects," he paused, looking at Castiel hopefully, and Castiel realized exactly what Dean meant by puppy dog eyes. "I mean, you don't have to let me in, of course, I understand how weird this probably is and I could totally be lying or trying to rob you or something, which I'm not!" he tried to assure, "just, I know this is...weird," he finished awkwardly.

Castiel pretended to think about it for a minute, as immediate acceptance would probably be suspicious, before letting Sam. "Please, come in, take all the time you need."

"Thank you," Sam said with a grateful smile. He walked in slowly, taking in his surroundings. Maggie hopped up on the cat shelf next to Sam's head, startling him a bit, but he smiled and started petting her. "Hi, cutie. Aren't you sweet," he coped.

"That's Maggie, she's a bit of an attention whore when she's in the mood," Castiel said, bringing Sam's attention back to him.

Their interaction was slightly awkward, them being strangers and all, Castiel pushed forward. "Would you like something to drink?" he offered. "I have tea? Coffee? Water?"

"Some tea would be great, thanks," he replied with a small smile.

"Right, well. Please, take a seat," he offered, gesturing to the couch. As he turned toward the kitchen, he made eye contact with Dean who was sitting next to Sam on the couch. Dean smiled briefly at him before returning his attention to his brother.

Castiel was happy. Obviously seeing Sam brought Dean great joy, and he was happy he was able to help.

He quietly fixed a mug of tea for himself and Sam in the kitchen, letting Dean have a few moments with Sam to himself.

After a few minutes, Castiel walked back into the living room with two steaming mugs of tea and handed one to Sam as he sat down next to him on the couch. Whiskers was currently making himself comfortable on Sam's lap and was quite pleased with the attention he was receiving.

"He's beautiful," Sam said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Yeah, but don't let him hear you, it'll go straight to his head," Castiel joked.

“Ain’t that the truth,” Dean said.

Sam huffed a small laugh, smiling down at the cat.

That's when Mabel jumped up on the coffee table, demanding attention from their visitor. Sam raised his brows in surprise. "How many cats do you have?"

“Five cats, Sam, _five cats_. He has a problem,” Dean said. Castiel took a second to glare at Dean while Sam was petting Mabel, but he just smiled innocently. He couldn’t help but smile a little too.

Castiel turned back to Sam. "Five," he answered.

Sam choked a bit on his tea. "Five?" he asked incredulously.

“ _Right_?” Dean said exasperatedly. Castiel decided he would just ignore Dean’s comments.

He smiled at Sam, used to such reactions when people found out how cats he had. "It wasn't intentional."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, I didn't just decide to adopt five cats, stuff just kinda…happened and all of the sudden, I had five cats," Castiel shrugged.

Sam chuckled. "What kind of stuff? How does a person just end up with five cats?"

"Well," he started, preparing to tell the story, "Nine years ago, I adopted Sanders when he was a little kitten. I was twenty-three and had just moved into my own apartment and after about a month, I felt lonely, so I figured a cat was the way to go because they’re sweet and loving and also low maintenance.”

“Unless you have five of them,” Dean chimed in.

“Shut up,” Castiel said under his breath.

“What?” Sam asked.

“Nothing.” He smiled, trying not to look suspicious. “Anyway, two years later, I adopted Mabel. A friend of mine fosters kittens and she was just so cute and I figured Sanders probably got lonely during the day and could use a friend, so I brought her home. A year after that, my sister moved in with her boyfriend who is allergic to cats, and she knew how much I liked cats and she didn’t want to give him up for adoption, so I ended up with Cat Number 3.

“Two years after I got Whiskers, I fell in love with another kitten that my friend was fostering, and that’s how I got Maggie. And then one year ago, a coworker of mine was moving and he had decided that cats weren’t really his thing and so he wouldn’t take his cat with him, but he had the prettiest Russian Blue and I had always wanted one and it was super sweet, so that’s how I got Alex and how I ended up with five cats.”

Sam chuckled. “Wow. Me and Dean used to share an apartment forever ago and he absolutely _refused_ to let us have any animals in the house.”

“Really?” Castiel asked, shooting a look at Dean. He had never raised any complaints about his cats before.

“Oh yeah,” Sam claimed. “He was allergic to cats so he didn’t want anything to do with them. And then with dogs, well, they were just too hairy, too loud, too energetic, needed too much attention, etc, etc. Whenever I brought up maybe getting one he always found a new excuse for why he didn’t like dogs.”

Dean pouted while Sam was talking. “I stand by my opinions on dogs,” he said.

“Well, some people just don’t like animals,” Castiel offered, trying not to smile at how much he knew Dean loved the cats, even if he tried to hide it.

“Yeah, but Dean was a big ol’ softie. I think he just needed to spend some time with a dog and he woulda been just fine. I always wanted to bring one home because I’m pretty sure Dean wouldn’t’ve made me take it back,” Sam said.

Dean looked scandalized. “I _absolutely_ would’ve made you take it back!”

“But I was going through college, so I didn’t have time to take care of a dog, and I didn’t want Dean to have to since he didn’t want a dog in the first place,” Sam continued.

“And what about now?”

“Well, I’ve got my own apartment now and I have two dogs. An Australian shepherd named Riot and a golden retriever named Bones,” Sam answered with a smile.

“That sounds nice. I’ve always liked dogs and I always planned on having one someday, but then I ended up with five cats and no room for a dog. But it’s probably for the best, I’m too lazy to properly take care of one, especially living in an apartment.”

“Yeah,” he agreed, “I’m kinda, well, Dean would’ve called me a bit of a fitness freak, so taking the dogs out has never been a problem for me.”

A slightly awkward silence fell between them after that as they both sipped their tea.

“Ask him about his life,” Dean demanded.

Castiel clenched his jaw. “So, Sam, tell me about yourself,” he said, ignoring how lame it sounded.

“What do you want to know?” Sam asked openly.

Castiel opened his mouth. “Anything.”

Sam smiled. “Well, there’s not a whole to tell, my life’s pretty boring. I’m an environmental lawyer, have been for a few years now, and I’m pretty happy with that. Um, I live alone, no one special yet, other than my dogs,” he joked. “What about you?”

“Me? Oh, um,” he started. “Well, I also live alone. I work as an editor and proof reader at a small publishing firm, and that’s pretty cool. It means I can do a lot of work from home and I don’t have any real schedule, so that’s nice.”

“Sounds nice. I mean, I love being a lawyer, but man, sometimes the hours are killer,” he complained.

“I told you they be,” Dean said.

“Well, it’s still impressive. I could never be a lawyer. Way too much work,” Castiel said. “So, changing the subject, tell me about your brother, Dean. If it’s not too private, of course," he hurried to add, "I realize it must not be the happiest subject.”

“Woah, hold up,” Dean exclaimed, “Today is to learn about Sam, _not_ _me_."

“No, no, it’s not a big deal. I mean, it is a big deal,” Sam corrected, “it’s just…it was nine years ago, I’ve had time to heal. I'm not over it by any means, but it’s a lot easier to talk about him now.”

Castiel smiled sympathetically. “It’s hard losing someone important to you.”

“Yeah, it is.” Sam took a steadying breath and Castiel could see that his eyes were slightly shiny. “Dean was…he was my big brother. He was four years older than me, but when we were children, we were inseparable. Then he started high school, and we grew apart some, just dealing with different things, but Dean always made sure we spent time together every week and he drove me to and from school every day and he just…he never treated me like his lame little brother, you know?” he said with a smile.

“And then he graduated and started working for our uncle as a mechanic and we saw even less of each other. And then I got accepted to Stanford all the way in California, and we were living in Kansas, but it was such a great opportunity and I couldn’t pass it up, so I went. And Dean moved with me, to California and we shared an apartment for a while. Then, in my third year of college, he moved to his own apartment, this apartment actually, so my girlfriend could move in with me, but we still made time for each other every week. Then, I got the call,” he said quietly, “That my brother had…”

Castiel gave him a minute before speaking. Dean was looking at Sam as if he was about to cry, but he didn’t think ghosts could cry. “It sounds like he was a great brother.”

“Yeah, he was. He was the best,” Sam said with a shaky smile. “I mean, we didn’t always get along, we were pretty different. I was more the quiet, nerdy bookworm type where Dean was the type to skip school to make out with people and he loved his car more than just about anything and he was kinda loud and obnoxious, but I don’t know, it just…worked between us.”

Castiel smiled.

“Hey, ask him about my baby,” Dean said, looking concerned.

Ah, the car. Castiel had heard about the car. He had listened to Dean rave about the Impala on numerous occasions and about how much he missed driving her and working on her. “You said he loved his car, what happened to it?”

“Oh, the car, yeah,” Sam said, nodding his head. “A black, 1967 Chevy Impala. She was his pride and joy. He would barely let anybody touch her. It’s back in Kansas now, with our uncle Bobby. He says he tries to drive once a week or so and he still does maintenance on her. Originally, she was offered to me, but I couldn’t give her the care she needed and she’s a bit of a gas guzzler, so I turned her down.”

“I suppose that is...satisfactory,” Dean commented, not entirely happy with his car's fate.

There was one more question that Castiel wanted to ask about Dean, something he had wanted to know for a while, but Dean refused to tell him. “So, if it’s not too inappropriate to ask, how did he die?”

“No! No, no, no, that’s cheating!” Dean exclaimed, standing up. “Sam, don’t answer.”

Normally, Castiel would respect someone’s privacy and not pry about things they clearly don’t want to talk about. But this was different. If Dean didn’t want to talk about his death because it was traumatic and emotional, he would’ve left it alone, but Dean didn’t talk about it because it was embarrassing. Every time Castiel brought it up, Dean flat out refused to say a word about it and he was pretty sure that if ghosts could blush, Dean would be bright red. So, while he felt a little bad about using Sam to find out, his curiosity outweighed the guilt.

Sam chuckled at the question and Castiel tried not to look to eager. "Well, it's ah...it's, he um," Sam stopped to smile. "He slipped in the shower."

Dean was pouring furiously and glaring at Sam and Castiel was trying not to laugh, though more at Dean's reaction than him slipping in the shower.

"It's okay, you can laugh," Sam said, chuckling. "I mean, I certainly wasn't laughing when it first happened, but...I do now."

"No, I'm sorry," Castiel said, chuckling as well, "It's just that, it's...it's nothing. Besides, there are worse ways to go."

"That's true," Sam said, a smile on his face.

"So what, I slipped in the shower, real funny," Dean pouted. "Don't forget that I _died_ , you bastards."

They end up talking for almost another two hours, Castiel asking all of Dean's questions, Dean frequently making comments. He got to know Sam very well and some of Dean's questions were probably a little too invasive for someone he just met, but Sam answered them anyway. Eventually, he said he had to go home and feed his dogs and Castiel walked him to the door.

"Thank you, for letting me come in and hang out today, even though I'm a total stranger," Sam said sincerely.

"It's no problem, I could see today was important to you," Castiel replied.

"Still, I know it's an odd request, but you're right, it is important, so thank you. Maybe I'll see you again next year."

"Yeah, maybe," Castiel said with a smile.

With a smile and a nod, Sam turned and started walking down the hallway toward the elevator. Dean stood next him, watching Sam leave and right before he turned the corner, Castiel called out. "Sam."

Sam paused and turned around. "Yeah?"

"I don't know what you believe in or anything, but wherever your brother is, I think he'd be happy to know you still care so much."

Sam smiled. "Thank you, Castiel." And with that he turned the corner and left.

Castiel went back inside and shut the door behind him. He turned around just in time for Dean to pull him into a tight hug.

Hugging Dean was...weird, in a word. He didn't have a texture and he didn't feel solid, exactly, but Castiel could definitely feel him. He was like a wall of air, like if air could be solid, that would be Dean. He knew Dean could touch things, hold things, but he had never tried to touch Dean himself, always assuming his hand would pass right through him.

After taking in these new facts he realized Dean was still holding him tightly and he tentatively returned the hug by wrapping his arms around Dean's waist.

"Thank you," Dean whispered in his ear.

"You're welcome, Dean," he whispered back.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading, comments and kudos are much appreciated. :)
> 
> This chapter was kinda fun to write, but also kinda annoying because I kept forgetting Dean was there so I would have to go back and write him in a little. Also, I spent way too much time figuring out the timeline for the cats.
> 
> Also, I know the premise for Sam's visit is a little unrealistic, but I couldn't think of anything better and it's setting up for future parts.
> 
> My [tumblr](https://konataizumi333.tumblr.com/)  
> If you're curious about the ages, Castiel is 32, Sam is 31, and Dean is 35 (he died at 26, so that's how he looks).
> 
> I hope you like Gabriel because the next part will have a lot of Gabriel.


End file.
